


Holding Fast

by bbcphile



Series: Harboured and Encompassed [4]
Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Bad Puns, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 15:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbcphile/pseuds/bbcphile
Summary: Will has a nightmare.Archie and Horatio help.





	Holding Fast

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ltwillbush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ltwillbush/gifts).



> Thanks to Ltwillbush for asking for a fic of the first time Will was "octopus-cuddled"! Happy holidays!

_“Bush! What’s our status?”_

_Will snapped to attention. “Sir. The third delivery of water today is on its way, and the first team on the ground said they’re ready for the medical crew. The Lynx is being loaded with supplies right now. They should be taking off any moment.”_

_“Good work, Bush,” Captain Flanighan said. “Report to the wardroom for briefing when you’re done. We still have a long day ahead of us.”_

_“Aye aye, Sir.” Will nodded and tried to force his eyes back into focus._

_“Bush? When was the last time you slept?”_

_Will blinked. He must’ve slept since they’d docked in Cebu. He just couldn’t remember it. Or what day it was. “I’m . . . not sure, Sir.”_

_Captain Flanighan frowned. “I see. In that case, the new orders for you and your crew are to get some rest immediately after sending off the Lynx.”_

_“Sir?”_

_“The next few days will be equally grueling, and we’ll need everyone in top condition. The people of the Philippines are counting on us. We can’t afford to get sloppy from sleep deprivation. Tell your crew they’ll have thirty minutes of rest before they’ll start up again.”_

_“Aye aye, Sir.”_

_“Dismissed.”_

_Will nodded and began to walk up the staircase, the sound of propellers filling the air. The Lynx must be taking off. And soon, the crew could rest. He smiled. They’d appreciate the break. The last three days had been hard for everyone._

_The faint sound of raised voices reached his ears._

_Will frowned and sprinted up the remaining steps and onto the deck. He squinted, the sun briefly blinding him._

_More voices rang out, but it was impossible to make out the words over the whirr of the helicopter._

_He shaded his eyes with his hand as he tried to see what all the commotion was about. Gradually, the Lynx came into focus. He frowned and tilted his head. Was its pallet of supplies crooked?_

_He looked over to his right. Boyle was running towards him, gesturing frantically. His mouth was moving, but the wind carried the words away._

_Will frowned, then started jogging towards him. “Boyle!” he bellowed, “What’s--”_

_“BUSH!” Boyle screamed, “RUN!”_

_A loud snap like the crack of a gun filled the air._

_Will looked up, his heart lurching to his throat._

_A large, gray pallet was hurtling towards him, blocking out the sky_.

Will sat up with a strangled gasp, his heart racing and his leg throbbing wildly. Everything was black. Why couldn’t he see his leg? Why couldn’t he see the blood? Was he dead? Oh, God, it fucking hurt.

“Will? Love?” A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. “You alright?”

Archie? What the bloody hell was Archie doing on the Daring? Will tried to ask but all that came out was a ragged, shuddering wheeze.

“Ah. Got it.” Fabric rustled nearby. “Horatio? Wake up?”

“Mmmph,” Horatio mumbled, his voice muffled.

“Horatio, love, Will’s had a nightmare. Turn on the lights.”

Will blinked as he tried to suck in another shaky breath. A nightmare? What--

“Oh! Of course. One moment.”

A second later, the room was flooded with light.

He glanced down, braced for a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

His stump, long-since healed, greeted his eyes instead.

He blinked, then glanced around at the blueish walls and the white carpet.

This was their bedroom in London. He wasn’t on the Daring.

He was safe.

His eyes closed as he sighed in relief.

“That’s right,” Archie murmured. “You’re alright. You’re home, love. We’ve got you.” He slid closer until their sides were pressed against each other, his arm a comforting weight around Will’s shoulders.

Will exhaled slowly and let himself learn into Archie’s arms. The phantom pain in his leg was starting to lessen. “Sorry to wake you up,” he muttered.

“It’s perfectly alright,” Horatio said as he scooted from Archie’s left to sit at the foot of the bed. He rested his hand on Will’s right knee and ran his thumb gently back and forth across the kneecap. “We wouldn’t want you to do this alone.”

Archie held him more tightly and pressed a quick kiss to his neck. “And if I’m not allowed to apologize for waking you up screaming bloody murder, then why should you be? Sounds a bit unfair to me, doesn’t it?”

Will huffed out a shaky laugh.

“Is there anything we can get you, Will? Some tea? A biscuit?”

“Or pain meds,” Archie offered.

Will hesitated, then shook his head. If he waited another ten minutes or so, the worst of the pain should fade. “Not just yet.”

Archie nodded. “Take your time. You can always change your mind if you need to.”

Will dipped his head in thanks and focused on emptying his mind, imagining the fear and the pain drain out through his leg and stump and into the floor. That little trick Dr. Patel’d taught him always worked more than just focusing on breathing.

“Did you want to talk about your nightmare?” Horatio asked after a moment.

Will shrugged. “Not much to say.”

“Flashback of the accident?” Archie asked.

Will nodded, barely managing to suppress a shudder. “Hadn’t had one in awhile.”

Horatio frowned. “You had them before? When we were in the dormitories? How often?”

Will shrugged. “Two, maybe three times a term?”

Horatio gaped. “What? Will, you could have said! You shouldn’t have had to suffer through that alone! Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You needed the sleep,” Will said simply.

Horatio rolled his eyes. “I would have managed--”

“--And we didn’t have . . . this, then,” Will said, gesturing vaguely at the three of them. He shrugged again. “So I handled it.”

Horatio frowned. “How?” he asked quietly.

Will wetted his lips. “Early morning shower. Reading. Meds. It varied.”

Archie shifted and began to run his fingers through Will’s hair, massaging the scalp as he went. “Well, you don’t have to do that alone anymore. We can keep you company however you want: we can watch an episode of something, I could read to us . . . oh, or we could shower together, although I doubt all three of us could fit.”

Will managed a hint of a smile. “Here’s fine.”

“Alright,” Archie said, shifting his hands to massage Will’s shoulders and neck. “There’s one more thing we could do, if you want.”

“Mmm?” Will asked with a satisfied sigh as Archie’s thumb did something particularly useful to a knot at the base of his neck.

“Well, up ‘til now, Horatio or I always end up in the middle while we sleep. What if you took a turn?”

Will blinked. “But . . . then I’d be between you and Horatio.”

Horatio frowned. “Well, yes, that’s the idea.”

Archie glanced at Horatio, swallowing back a laugh, then looked back at Will, his forehead wrinkling. “And that’s a problem because?”

Will stared down at his hands. How could he explain why it felt like overstepping this . . . thing they’d made together? He wetted his lips. “I don’t want to get in the way,” he said at last.

There was a silence.

He glanced up. Archie and Horatio were staring at him in horror.

He raised an eyebrow.

Archie took a deep breath, then sat up on his knees. He took Will’s hands in his and stared directly into his eyes. “Ok, glad I asked. Will, love? We’re in this together. All three of us. This isn’t us deigning to allow you to share our bed. You’re never going to be in the way, because you’re every bit as much a part of this as either of us. We love you. Both of us. And we’re not going to change our minds because we’re spending a few hours holding you instead of each other. Right, Horatio?”

“Of course! Will, I--” Horatio frowned and pressed his lips together. “--I apologize if I have ever implied otherwise. It’s -- it’s an honour to share our lives and our bed with you, and I promise to do everything in my power to ensure you never have cause to doubt that.”

Will ducked his head as a warmth flared to life in his chest. “Ta,” he mumbled to the bedspread, his throat feeling oddly thick.

“So, in light of this revelation,” Archie began, “I move that Will be thoroughly snuggled tonight. Horatio, do you second?”

“Seconded,” Horatio said instantly.

Will looked back up, eyebrow raised. “Parliamentary procedure?”

Horatio cleared his throat. “I believe you meant ‘Poly-mentary procedure,’” he said, a twinkle in his eyes.

Archie blinked at him, then raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Horatio, that’s--”

Horatio raised an eyebrow back, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

Archie rolled his eyes. “That’s absolutely horrible, love. I don’t know if I should be proud or horrified.”

“Both, I think,” Will said drily.

“Both. Both is good,” Horatio quoted, his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh.

Archie’s eyes opened wide. “Horatio, love, did you just --”

“--Quote _The Road to El Dorado_?” Horatio asked, beaming. “Why, yes, I believe I did.”

Archie grinned. “You, my love, are a wonder.” He leaned over to press a quick kiss to Horatio’s lips. “Will, have you seen that one yet?”

Will shook his head. “Should I?”

“Absolutely! Dreamworks animation from 2000, I think, about two Spanish con-men who try to find the city of gold and end up fighting against colonialism. The two con-men were lovers in the original script before the writers were forced to change it, and it ends with an OT3 riding off into the sunset.”

“And there are ships,” Horatio added.

Will snorted.

“Also true,” Archie said with a grin. “Plan for tomorrow night, then? When I get back from the audition?”

"I’m free,” Will volunteered.

Horatio nodded. “I should be able to make time.”

“Excellent. In that case, date night tomorrow. But now, we should get some sleep.” Archie paused. “If you’re ready to give it a try again.”

Will hesitated. He usually couldn’t sleep after nightmares like that, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Especially if it meant Archie would be better-rested for his audition. He nodded. “It can’t hurt.”

“Ok, then,” Archie said with a grin. “Horatio, how about you swing over to Will’s over side, and we’ll see how that works?”

“Alright.” Horatio climbed over Will, pausing while briefly straddling him to give him a quick kiss on the lips, and sat down on his right side. “Who would you like to hold first?”

Will blinked. Somehow they’d never needed to have this conversation with Archie. He just always happened to be in the middle, unless Horatio was having trouble sleeping.

“Why don’t you start by facing me, Will? And if that gets uncomfortable for you, we can roll over? Horatio doesn’t get to hold you nearly enough,” Archie said with a grin.

“Alright,” Will said with a nod. He lay down on his left side, then pushed himself down on the bed until his head rested on the pillow. A moment later, Horatio’s arm was wrapped around his chest. Horatio slid closer, nestling his face into the nape of Will's neck. Will smiled. Horatio always ended up draped over Archie by morning. Would he do the same here?

Archie leaned over to turn off the lamp, then lay down and rolled on his right to face Will.

Will raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought I was holding you.”

Archie shrugged. “You can. While I hold you, too. I did promise that you’d be thoroughly snuggled, didn’t I?” He tilted his head up to kiss Will on the lips, then slid further down the pillow until his forehead was against Will’s chin. He shifted until his legs were pressed up against Will’s and put a warm, strong arm around his waist. “This ok?” he murmured. “You’re not feeling trapped? I’m not bumping anything?”

Will shook his head. “It’s nice,” he said quietly.

Archie and Horatio squeezed him more tightly in unison.

“Alright, then. Wake us if you need anything at all--including if you get too warm or Horatio goes all octopus-like on you.”

Horatio huffed in mild irritation. “I’m nothing like an octopus, Archie, I’m--”

“A glorious, warm-blooded octopus with a tendency to wrap all manner of limbs around its partners--”

“--Octopodes have eight appendages, Archie. That’s twice as many as I have, and I thereby think it’s impossible for me to--”

“--Who we both love very much and who needs to go to sleep now,” Archie finished, smiling into Will’s neck.

Horatio sighed into Will’s neck, the fond, amused, exasperated sound reserved only for Archie. “Very well. But if I’m an octopus, then you’re clearly a limpet.”

Archie laughed quietly, his breath pleasantly tickling Will’s neck. “Whatever you say, love. As long as you assign Will his sea creature alter-ego in the morning.” He yawned. “Goodnight, loves. See you in a few hours.”

Horatio’s hand shifted to briefly brush Archie’s fingers, before sliding back to Will’s chest. “Goodnight, Archie. Goodnight, Will,” he mumbled, his voice already sounding unfocused.

“Night,” Will answered quietly, putting his right around around Archie’s waist.

With a quiet, happy murmur, Archie shifted closer until his nose and lips were pressed against his neck. Soon, Archie’s breath was slow and steady. He let his chest rise and fall in time with Archie’s and was surprised to discover how heavy his eyelids felt.

“Sea anemones,” Horatio mumbled into the back of his neck.

Will huffed out a quiet laugh and relaxed into the warmth of their arms.

He let his eyes fall shut.


End file.
